We’ve paid homage to the 28 liter (1729 cubic inch) four cylinder Fiat S76 from 1911 before; first in a post on its history, and then a video documenting its restoration. But who can get tired of hearing the unmuffled sounds and seeing the flames from its exhaust ports, and watch it loping along at barely above idle? So here it is, unleashed on the roads of Goodwood, in a video just released this morning and brought to our attention thanks to CC reader Johannes Dutch. No, it doesn’t quite re-enact its 137 mh run on the sands of Ostende, but who would have the guts or insanity to do that again?

23 Comments

Amazing ride through the bends. It seems like the gearing on this is pretty tall…I appreciate that the restoration is perfect, but I would also like to see a near-twin with a postwar transmission, 4:1 or so rearend, and cheater slicks. Then see how it starts off the nice brick line.

The competition between engine exhaust and melting tires would satisfy many depraved longings I’ve harbored.

The supercharged 27 Litre Rolls Royce Merlin and its North American Allison counterpart come pretty close. Both those engines were popular for years in unlimited hydroplane boat racing, so they were developed and tweaked to the hilt, long past their sell-by date.

I don’t think the epithet ‘beast’ was ever more aptly applied to a motor car. The men who designed and built it clearly had no preconceived notions of how large a motor should be… What I wouldn’t give for a ride in that!

I would not have thought that this would interest me much, but this video is just fascinating to watch. Well shot, too. It is rather terrifying to think about driving this. That belt drive near the people in the car makes old farm machinery look safe. A beast indeed.

Lack of safety features on the cars of yesteryear was the norm. If I compare the features that my 2007 Honda Civic has to my husband’s 1972 Ford Maverick, the lack of safety features in the Maverick is astounding. ALL cars from that era lack the items that us younger people take for granted.

very last shot from high above shows a pool of something developing under the car onto the parking lot. any idea what it is? is it a leak of some sort or would that be situation normal? if the latter what is the fluid?

Awesome video! It’s incredible that anyone could drive something with such a huge (28 litres) engine. Although I liked the sound of the engine running, with flames shooting out the side, I was afraid the car was going to catch fire and consume everyone riding on it. It looked rather cramped. One person could possibly drive it, but two people, that’d be a rather tight fit.